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Lazio - Nice

November 2, 2017

L. Favre: ”We are going to bounce back, that’s for sure!”

The evening before Lazio - Nice, Lucien Favre spoke to the press.

Coach, despite the good start in the Europa League, this return game against Lazio isn’t “a match to forget about”.Definitely not. We need to have a good match, a good performance. That’s the desire for all of us. It’s Europe and, in any case, you can’t put any game to one side.

Is there less pressure in the Europa League than in L1?The context is different. We come out of the league for a bit before getting straight back into it on Sunday. We have 6 points in Europe, we need to continue, because it will be tight until the end. We have a bit of a lead, but you can’t depend on that. We need to be really good and to give everything, because we are facing a very good side.

After 5 consecutive defeats, is your squad beaten?The players are very disappointed, like everybody, but not beaten. We are going to bounce back from this. As I said, it can take a bit of time, but we will bounce back, that’s for sure! There is work. And then from the work, the confidence. From the confidence, you logically get better results. Once again, the matches, when you analyse them, are coming down to very little things.

Lazio may well change things around. How does that make you feel?Nothing. They have been doing that since the start. They rotate 5 or 6 players each time between the Thursday and Sunday. And in Europe, they have changed it every time after an hour, when Immobile and Alberto come on. It’s possible, even probable that they will do that against us too, but that changes nothing because they are still a good team.

"Control a match throughout”

Not many fans are expected at the Stadio Olimpico. What kind of atmosphere are you expecting? I think that around 15 or 18 000 fans are expected. In a stadium like that, it isn’t a lot. But we will forget that and concentrate on our game. I hope that there will be a good atmosphere and a good match.

You have faced Paris, Monaco: what level are Lazio at? It’s always difficult to compare. What’s certain is that, the league in Italy is coming back in strength. Juventus have always been there. Napoli, we know them. They have made huge progress, and have stabilized over the last two or three years, they are really good side who are always there or thereabouts. There’s Inter too and when you see Roma who are in 5th, behind Lazio, beat Chelsea, the champions of England last night (3-0), that means a lot. The level of the league in Italy is high. Lazio are 4th and recently beat Juve. That means a lot too.

You played a good match in the first match (1-3 defeat). What can you use to support yourselves on Thursday? We played well. We conceded goals that hurt a lot mentally, but that’s the way it is, these things happen, it’s part of the game, you have to accept it and move on. Over 65 minutes, it wasn’t bad. Now, we need to manage to hold on and to control a good match for the whole game.

Despite the players missing, there is still quality in the squad. Is there a way of pulling a good performance out of the bag...We will see. I can’t say that there is no quality, but it’s the pitch that will show what we are capable of.